More Articles

The Dispatch E-Edition

All current subscribers have full access to Digital D, which includes the E-Edition and
unlimited premium content on Dispatch.com, BuckeyeXtra.com, BlueJacketsXtra.com and
DispatchPolitics.com.
Subscribe
today!

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoPete Marovich | FOR THE DISPATCHSuzanne Sloane of Catlett, Va., struggled for years to correct her credit records after a thief stole her identity and spent $30,000. The thief was convicted, but that didn’t fix things. Sloane and her husband had to give up a plan to start a business, and the stress almost broke their marriage.

CATLETT, Va. — While Suzanne Sloane was giving birth to her second child, a contract worker in
the hospital’s accounts-payable department was stealing her identity.

During the next six months, the thief took out dozens of credit cards, loans and cash advances
using Sloane’s personal information, and went on a wild spree, spending $30,000.

Sloane had no idea, until one day she opened a piece of mail from a debt collector saying she
owed money from a credit card that didn’t belong to her. The card was issued to Shovana Sloan — the
woman who worked at the hospital.

That night, Suzanne Sloane typed her Social Security number into the website for Equifax, one of
the three major credit-reporting agencies in the United States, and discovered that her report was
littered with 20-plus pages of the other woman’s accounts.

“I had just put the kids to bed, my husband wasn’t home, and I was panicking when I saw that
name,” said Suzanne, now 45 and a charter-school principal. “You’re in disbelief in the beginning.
I thought it must be a typo or some kind of mistake.”

Suzanne spent months working with local and federal authorities, calling creditors and dealing
with Equifax. The thief, who had a previous conviction for identity theft, confessed to stealing
Suzanne’s information at the hospital and later was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Suzanne thought the ordeal was finally over.

Like so many others who suffer through an identity theft, Suzanne soon realized that restoring
her previously excellent credit would consume her life.

Her struggle to fix her credit report would threaten her financial life and nearly cost her
something even more valuable.

Suzanne and her husband, both teachers at the time, had built the family life they had always
wanted. Part of it came from the sweat and time they put into fixing up one house, selling it and
buying a nicer one. The couple had made the home improvements together and decided it was a good
time for her husband to follow his dream, quit teaching and make a living restoring and selling
homes.

They found several homes that were perfect to get their business started. They went to arrange
financing but knew it was bad news when they saw the look on the mortgage broker’s face. To make
matters worse, the broker was one of her husband’s former students.

Suzanne’s credit report was still carrying the debt of the identity thief, lowering her credit
score 200 points, into the 500s. They were denied a loan — and their dream.

“I felt like I killed his dream,” Suzanne said.

She previously had been turned down for a car loan for the same reason, but she thought her
credit report was now clean.

She had done everything possible to fix her credit history. She repeatedly wrestled with
creditors and Equifax by phone and in letters, but she never got the help she needed.

Equifax, however, mailed her a form letter offering to sell her protection against identity
theft. The letter was addressed to the thief, Shovana Sloan.

Then the problem began to affect Suzanne’s marriage.

Shortly after she and her husband were denied the loan, Suzanne overheard a conversation between
him and his father. The two were discussing going into the housing business as partners.

Suzanne was hurt and felt betrayed. The couple argued long into the night, and tension only grew
worse during the summer. They were sleeping in different bedrooms and considered separation.

“He just wanted the fallout from the identity theft to go away,” Suzanne said. “He started
blaming me for what happened and for not being able to fix it. I was losing my husband over
this."

While vacationing with family, the couple found time at a quiet ocean-side restaurant to be
alone and talk through their troubles. They agreed they weren’t going to allow the flawed
credit-reporting system to destroy their family. They would keep working together to rebuild
Suzanne’s financial life.

Eventually, she hired a consumer-law attorney and sued Equifax. The legal dispute continued for
almost two years. It included an exhausting trial during which Suzanne described to a jury how the
crime and its lingering effect on her credit history nearly destroyed her family. Equifax argued
that Suzanne hadn’t followed proper procedures when disputing the false information on her
report.

The jury sided with Suzanne and then awarded her financial damages, which later were cut in half
by a judge. Suzanne declined to discuss the award based on the advice of her attorney. An official
for Equifax’s lobbying group said the company doesn’t comment on active or closed legal cases.

“No, I didn’t get rich, and I am still working,” Suzanne said.

She and her husband are now both school principals and remain unsure about whether the problem
will return. In fact, just three weeks ago, Suzanne received a call from a creditor who wanted
information about Shovana Sloan.

“I still feel like this robbed my husband of his dream,” she said. “ No one should ever have to
go through something like this. But when it happens, it should be fixed instead of anchoring down
your life for months or years.”